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Credit: Nick Romanenko
Amitabh Lath with a working model of a
fuel cell, which he uses to demonstrate
to high school students how oxygen and
hydrogen can be converted into
continuous electrical energy and vice
versa. Lath, an assistant professor of
physics in Piscataway, has given talks
the past two years to the science and
math club at Piscataway High School.
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Credit: Nick Romanenko
Asela Laguna, professor of classical and
modern language and literature in
Newark, serves on committees at the
State Theater and NJPAC. Laguna is also
acting chair of the Puerto Rican and
Hispanic Caribbean studies department.
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Credit: Addison Geary
John Wall, professor of religion and
philosophy in Camden, talked to local
church congregations to get ideas for
his research on children and families.
Wall was one of more than 800 faculty
members responding to a survey intended
to gauge Rutgers' service to the state
of New Jersey.
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Fulfilling Rutgers’ role as a public institution, more than two-thirds of faculty
members on all three campuses responding to a survey reported that they performed some kind of service to New Jersey between July 2002 and July 2003. Most of the faculty members surveyed said their contributions benefited them personally and professionally.
David Guston, associate professor of public policy at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, carried out the survey with help from his graduate class, which spent the semester examining the role of experts in the policy-making process.
Guston undertook the survey after President Richard L. McCormick made service to the state a top priority of his administration. The report prompted several initiatives McCormick announced Sept. 10 at his annual address. They include the creation of a pool of money to fund and support faculty service to the state and a new annual award to recognize service excellence by faculty. In addition, McCormick will appoint an advisory group to monitor the allocation of funds and selection of awardees.
The report, posted on the Bloustein School home page at policy.rutgers.edu, documents a significant amount of service activity by Rutgers faculty members, Guston said. They contribute their time to community groups, schools, industry groups, and local, county and state agencies. They also offer their expertise to the media by providing interviews and background to reporters and penning their own articles.
The survey defined service as activities that made use of faculty expertise and benefited to New Jersey agencies and communities. The activities did not involve research or directly benefit Rutgers students; faculty members were allowed to receive modest compensation for their work.
Guston said the survey found that many faculty members do not feel their service is properly rewarded in the university structure. Three-quarters of respondents believe that service plays little or no role in promotion and tenure decisions, according to the report.
“People who responded to the survey seem to believe that service is an important part of what they do here at Rutgers and would like to see it better recognized and better rewarded by the university,” Guston said. “They feel the university is strongly committed to service, but that it might do a little bit better toward the people who are themselves strongly committed to service.”
Faculty members were also more likely to indicate they were satisfied with their service activities if provided with clerical support, release time and reimbursement for expenses, the report states.
Guston worked in conjunction with the Office of Institutional Research and Academic Planning to send e-mails to 2,495 eligible full-time faculty members. Of those, 834 – 33 percent – completed the Web-based survey. Nearly 69 percent of the respondents said they had performed some kind of service.
Amitabh Lath was one of them. The assistant professor of physics has spoken to the science and math club at Piscataway High School and participates in the QuarkNet program. The program is designed to bring high school physics teachers together with university physicists so that high school students can have access to some of the latest developments in the field of particle physics (the study of protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks and other subatomic particles).
Lath said that his lectures to students interested in physics expose them to research going on at universities. “I don’t think they get a particle physicist there every day,” Lath said. “The high school curriculum really doesn’t get into physics beyond 1970.”
The students look for advice from Lath about their educational futures and careers. One of the founding members of the high school’s science and math club, King Tsoi, graduated from Rutgers with highest honors and is now pursuing his graduate studies at Harvard, Lath said. Lath is always more than happy to offer advice. “They ask me ‘What should I major in when I get into college?’ It’s nice to meet motivated students,” he said.
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